Family looks for daughter 10 years after disappearance

Maybe it was supposed to rain Wednesday. Maybe it was appropriate — even proper — for the drizzle and the dark clouds to gather, to pour down on Lakeview Cemetery in Windsor. Maybe it was because of the anniversary.

Ten years ago Wednesday, Kristina Tournai-Sandoval disappeared. She was 23 years old then, but she’s never been found. No one ever stepped forward with an answer. No one has been arrested — even though everyone believes she was murdered.

Her parents, Michael and Mary Ellen Tournai of Windsor, didn’t do anything special Wednesday, other than their regular visit to her memorial stone in the Windsor cemetery. In the rain, in the darkness of the

early morning, Tina’s photo on the memorial still stood out.

Even though it’s the 10th anniversary of her disappearance, it’s difficult to keep asking, to keep looking, to keep up their hopes, her mother admitted.

The Tournais have been looking for 10 years, ever since the morning of Oct. 19, 1995, when their daughter disappeared.

But no one’s really given up, Mary Ellen said this week.

The chief suspect in the case, who the police pinpointed in their investigation, was her ex-husband, John Sandoval. Because of him, the parents have stopped using their daughter’s married name, Tournai-Sandoval, and now send out messages to police using her maiden name, Tina Tournai.

On the day she disappeared, Tina told her sister she was going to her ex-husband’s house to collect some money he owed her. Although her sister warned her not to talk to Sandoval, Tina left North Colorado Medical Center — where she worked as a nurse — that morning, determined to confront him about the money.

She was never seen again. Late that night, Mary Ellen, after learning her daughter was going to talk to Sandoval, reported her missing daughter to police. Her car was found two blocks from Sandoval’s house. The next morning, officers were staking out the house in the 700 block of 35th Avenue Court in Greeley when Sandoval came home.

He got out of his car and walked into the house. Officers first checked the car and saw a mud-covered shovel and bucket in the back seat. They knocked on the door of the house and Sandoval’s aunt told officers he was taking a shower.

The officers waited a few minutes and knocked again; that time, the aunt told them he wasn’t home. That was when officers caught Sandoval climbing out of a bathroom window.

However, because Tina’s body has never been found, there wasn’t enough evidence to hold Sandoval or charge him with any crimes connected to his ex-wife.

Sandoval had a record for stalking women and later was sentenced to six years in prison after he was found hiding in a woman’s closet in west Greeley, just blocks from his home.

Meanwhile, the searches continued. First, it was police, then sheriff’s officers, then hundreds of volunteers combing the countryside on weekends, calling in tips of blond women they’d seen in the Midwest or on the East Coast. After a few months, the searching was called off, the number of officers working the case was reduced and, eventually, the Tournai file became a cold case.

But Tina’s parents never gave up. They’d pick a different area of Weld County to walk and search on weekends. They put up reward posters and called police to keep the case alive. Finally, three years ago, they conducted a memorial service. They knew their daughter was dead.

But they hired a private detective to review police files a couple of years ago and, occasionally, someone will call with a clue or a hunch or a rumor. The Tournais have found some solace — and maybe some kindred spirits — in a group they joined, called Families of Homicide Victims. They’ve met with group members, shared the horror stories, cried together.

Today, the chief investigator on the case is Greeley detective Steve Schrimpf.

“We still think John (Sandoval) was behind it,” Schrimpf said. “He could have buried the body anywhere, because he was gone from 9:30 one morning until 5:30 the next day. We still look into any idea or tips that come in.”